Confinement of illumination and signal detection has long been recognized as an important tool in molecular diagnostics since the application of Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). FCS involves illumination of a sample volume containing fluorophore-labeled molecules, and detection of fluctuations in fluorescence signal produced by the molecules as they diffuse into and out of the effective observation volume. The fluorescence intensity fluctuations can best be analyzed if the volume under observation contains only a small number of fluorescing molecules, and if the background signal is low. This can be accomplished by the combination of a drastically limited detection volume and a low sample concentration. The detection volume of traditional FCS is approximately 0.5 femtoliters (or 0.5 ×10−15 liters), and is achieved through the use of a high numerical aperture microscope objective lens to tightly focus a laser beam. In this detection volume, single molecules can be isolated at concentrations of up to approximately one nanomolar. This concentration range is unacceptably low for most biochemical reactions, which have reaction constants in the micromolar range. At lower concentrations, these reactions either do not proceed acceptably fast, or behave in a qualitatively different fashion. To observe single molecules at higher concentrations, the observation volume has to be reduced to far smaller dimensions.
In recent years, the advancement in nanofabrication technology enabled the production of nanoscale devices that are integrated with electrical, optical, chemical or mechanical elements.
However, there still remains a considerable need for small, mass produced, and disposable devices that can provide optical confinements of smaller scale, and amenable to single-molecule analysis at a higher concentration. The present invention satisfies these needs and provides related advantages as well.